This invention relates to new solventless cleaning and treating compositions for carpet. This invention also relates to a method for cleaning and treating carpet with these compositions to impart anti-soiling and stain release properties to the carpet.
For many decades, carpet has been the floor covering of choice for improving both the aesthetics and comfort in residential homes and commercial buildings. Though very pleasing in appearance and convenience when new, the carpet over time inevitably is susceptible to staining by foods and beverages and also discoloration due to soil pick-up caused by foot traffic.
To minimize the effect of these assaults, various treatments have been applied to carpet either at the carpet mill or directly after installation (henceforth referred to as xe2x80x9cearly applied treatmentsxe2x80x9d). Such early applied treatments include (a) fluoroaliphatic compounds and silsesquioxane polymers to provide soil resistance, (b) stainblockers to prevent adherence to, and to facilitate release of, stains from fibers, and (c) various combinations thereof. However, though these early applied treatments may impart good initial protection to carpet, the ability of the treated carpet fibers to resist both soiling and staining gradually diminishes over time due to foot abrasion and soil and stain buildup. At this point, the carpet must be cleaned to restore its initial appearance. Unfortunately, during cycles of carpet cleaning and use, early applied treatments can become ineffective through contamination or may be removed from the carpet, leaving the carpet susceptible to accelerated discoloration from staining and soiling.
In order to maintain satisfactory stain and soil resistance of the carpet after cleaning (i.e., to bolster the resistance of the cleaned carpet to that of the early applied treated carpet), soil and stain resistant agents are normally applied to the cleaned carpet in a separate application step. This post-application is necessitated because of the incompatibility of the anti-soiling chemicals with the cleaning detergent systems and resulting ineffectiveness of such mixtures. For example, anti-soiling chemicals such as perfluoroalkyl group-containing polymers tend to separate out from surfactants thus limiting shelf-life. Additionally, the effectiveness of anti-soiling chemicals and surfactants is related to pH. Anti-soiling chemicals are more effective in an acidic environment while surfactants are more effective in a basic environment thus making it difficult to produce a single composition containing both components while maintaining the desired properties.
Thus, it would be desirable to employ a one-stop cleaning/treating process. But in order to effectively employ such a one-step process, anti-soiling and stainblocking agents must be compatible with cleaning detergents. Additionally, such agents must be quickly exhausted onto the carpet fibers under vacuuming condition, since the time window between contacting the carpet with the cleaning detergents and treating agents and removing such detergents and agents is extremely short. Vacuum application tends to extract the treating agents along with the dirty detergent-containing waste water, resulting in insufficient long-term carpet protection.
Despite these attempts, there continues to be a need an organic solvent-free carpet cleaning system that can simultaneously effectively clean carpet and provide long term anti-soiling and stainblocking protection to the cleaned carpet.
In one aspect, this invention relates to an aqueous composition having a pH of at least 6 that includes a stainblocking polymer, silsesquioxane anti-soiling polymer, surfactant, and optional sequestering agent, or salt.
In another aspect, this invention relates to a method for cleaning a fibrous polyamide substrate and imparting superior soil and stain resistance properties to the cleaned carpet that includes (a) water extracting the substrate with an aqueous composition of this invention, and (b) vacuum removal of the composition from the cleaned and treated substrate.
A further aspect of the invention relates to a method for cleaning a fibrous polyamide substrate and imparting superior soil and stain resistance properties to the cleaned carpet that includes (a) water extracting the substrate with an aqueous composition of this invention, (b) vacuum removal of the composition from the cleaned and treated substrate; and contacting the substrate with an aqueous composition comprising a stainblocker and a silsesquioxane.
The carpet cleaning and treating compositions of this invention may be used to effectively clean and treat soiled and stained carpet using a one step process, imparting superior anti-soiling and stainblocking properties to the cleaned carpet. This process can be employed with previously installed carpet or, alternatively, can be used in the carpet factory to clean and treat uninstalled, previously untreated carpet. The one step process described in this invention avoids the additional time and labor costs necessitated in a two-step cleaning and treating process as well as reduces the total amount of aqueous cleaner and treatment applied. This reduction in aqueous cleaner amount leads to two advantages: (1) it minimizes damage of the carpet due to water penetration and potential dimensional instability, and (2) it reduces the energy costs in the ovens required to dry the water. Although it is economically more desirable to clean and treat in one step, the carpet cleaning and treating compositions of this invention can be applied onto installed carpets before or after the carpet is cleaned. Additionally, the carpet cleaning and treating compositions of this invention can be applied onto installed carpets cleaned with compositions other than those disclosed in this application. Furthermore, the carpet cleaning and treating compositions of this invention can be applied onto installed carpets that have not been previously imparted with anti-soiling and/or stain release properties.
Cleaning and treating carpet compositions of this invention can be utilized by carpet distributors and professional cleaners as well as by xe2x80x9cdo-it-yourselfxe2x80x9d consumers. The cleaning and treating compositions of this invention are shelf stable and can be stored at high concentration without separation.